A trip to the Dentist

Mckenna had her first official dentist appointment today. She is overly afraid and sensitive when it comes to doctors due to the many different health issues she had last year (I'll post about all of that later), where she had to have blood drawn several times, an echo-cardiogram, a few ER visits where they drew blood, a dentist visit after she fell and hit her mouth and had to get X-rays because it broke a tooth, etc. Needless to say, she is not a fan of doctors, nurses, etc. So I was really worried about this appointment. We have been reading her books about the dentist and how fun he is and just in general psyching her up for this appointment in hopes that it would go well. She was even running around the house this morning before the appointment saying, "The Dentist is GREAT, he's not scary!" Curtis came with me and ended up going back with Mckenna while she got checked and got her teeth cleaned, and he was such a proud daddy. She did SO good. She got "pictures" taken of her teeth, the nurse cleaned her teeth with only a small fight from Mckenna (we believe it was due to a scary part on Finding Nemo that she was watching), and when the doctor came in, she leaned her head back and opened her mouth as wide as she could for him to check without even being asked. She was such a trooper and we are so proud of her. I had Curtis take pictures so I could document it for Mckenna in the future, and I can't believe how big she looks in them.

Ruby - 1 month old (January 1, 2012)

Ruby is 1 month old today! It's so crazy how fast time flies. I find that the newborn stage is both a blessing and a curse. It is so much fun to have a new baby, but you're so sleep deprived if you even blink their not newborns anymore. It goes WAY to fast! Things we love about Ruby:

*She is so incredibly laid back. She doesn't even make a peep when Mckenna sits on her and pokes her and wakes her up every 5 seconds from her naps.

*Her beautiful dimples.

*She is the ideal little sleeper... averaging about 6 hour stretches at night between feedings.

*She looks EXACTLY like Mckenna did when she was a baby. In fact, comparing baby pictures, it's incredibly hard to tell them apart, except for Ruby has a birth mark on her eye.

*She smiles constantly...whether it's at us or not, we love it.

*Mckenna adores Ruby. She loves to cuddle her and climb all over her. She's her new little play doll. :)

We love Ruby. She is an amazing baby, and we are so grateful she is in our family.

A visit from the paramedics (November 8, 2011)

We had a bit of a scare today with Mckenna. She was playing and watching the baby Einstein on t.v. on the couch, while I was working in the kitchen keeping an eye on her. Somehow she got her hands on a couple of pennies and a dime and had put them in her little orange cup she was playing with. I hadn't seen her playing with the money, but a few minutes later heard her frantically choking. I guess she had laid down on the couch with the money in her little cup and then put the cup up to her mouth like she would if she was taking a drink and the pennies fell into the back of her throat (the dime, luckily, did not). I ran over to her and picked her up into a sitting position while she was coughing and gagging, and throwing up trying to get the pennies out of her throat. I didn't do the heimlich, but tipped her upside down so her mouth was facing the ground and one of the pennies came out of her mouth. She had a brief moment of relief before she immediately started gagging and choking again. She started turning blue and then purple and was looking at me with total desperation in her face. I called 911 and had them send an ambulance over, but the dispatch lady stayed on the phone with me coaching me through what to do...which was the same thing I'd been doing. I tipped Mckenna upside down again...and she threw the second penny up, but was still vommitting, so I thought she might still have money stuck in her throat. After a minute she was able to catch her breath, and the dispatcher told me to keep an eye on her and hang tight she would send an officer over to make sure everything was okay because the ambulance might be a little while longer. Not even a full 2 minutes after she said that, an officer knocked on the door and came in after I yelled for him to come in. I'm sure these guys see lots of crazy things, but I'm sure we were a sight that day. Vomit all over the couch and various parts of the floor; Mckenna's shirt and pants covered in it too. I'm 9 1/2 months pregnant and almost in tears. He was very nice and took a look at Mckenna and hung around until the ambulance arrived. I didn't feel like making small talk at the time, so I called Curtis to tell him what happened. I guess I wasn't very clear on the phone because all he heard was 'Mckenna', 'ambulance', 'choking', and 'I gotta go'. So he ran home not having any idea what had just happened. He got here right after the ambulance did though. The paramedics checked Mckenna out to make sure she was breathing okay. They said just from looking at her she looked great, her coloring was good, and then did a couple more tests just to be certain. She was happy as a clam and loved the attention. They even gave her a bird to help take her mind off of it. They kept offering to take care of me and give me oxygen because they were worried about me and the pregnancy, but I assured them I was fine. It was a day I hope to never relive with any of my kids, but I'm so grateful it ended well, when it could have gone so wrong.




Obviously this picture was not taken at the time of the incident. I did not think to grab my camera in my state of mind at the time, and therefore did not get a picture of the whole thing. But this is the bird the paramedics gave Mckenna. She still talks about it as the bird the doctors gave her because she choked... like it's a reward for something awesome she did. :) I just don't correct her.

Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful, magical Christmas this year. It was so fun being in a new home with a new baby and having a 2 year old who is starting to grasp the concept of Christmas and the excitement that comes with it. We have been hermits since Ruby was born trying to stay well and keep the kids well, but we had family in and out to see us, and had a very low key day. Curtis' parents were in town for Christmas to spend time with each of the kids and their families. We had a lot of fun with them while they were here and Mckenna was in heaven with all the attention she got from her Grandma and Grandpa.









Christmas Eve in Preparation for Santa & his reindeer to come...



After Santa and the reindeer left...











We woke up Christmas morning to Mckenna coming in our room (just like every morning at around 6:45). We showered and got reeady, read books, and played with the girls before going out to see what Santa left for us. Mckenna HAD to wear her ballerina dress that morning, so we got her all dressed up then headed out to see the presents. She saw the tree, saw the gifts, and went immediately to look and see if Santa ate the cookies. He had left a couple of bites of a cookie on the plate, and she immediately grabbed it and started eating it. She didn't care that she had presents, she just wanted the cookie.








My parents got Mckenna this pig that rolls on the floor laughing hysterically. She wasn't sure what to think of it. You could tell she liked it, but each time she went to pick it up it would move again (I guess it has a motion sensor), and it would totally freak her out. This is her enjoying it from a good distance.


My sweet laptop to replace my last one that crashed.

Curtis got a new snowblower from Santa, but I don't have a picture of that. Our new house is at the very base of Mapleton canyon so we get a tremendous amount of snow where we live and our house is on a corner lot, so Curtis has quite the task of keeping not only our driveway clean, but our sidewalk in front of the house, and around the corner and up the hill too. Santa was nice enough to think about the large job he has ahead of him and tried to make it a little easier. :)

And lastly, each year my parents invite Santa to come over either Christmas Eve or Christmas day to take pictures with the kids and our family. We left Ruby and daddy home this year to keep Ruby well, but Mckenna was so excited to go see Santa this year. As soon as we walked in the door and she actually saw him she had a panic attack...full on screaming, crying, holding me as tight as she could so I wouldn't put her down anywhere near him. She even cried so hard for the family picture she threw up all over me. She wanted nothing to do with Santa this year. So, I'm sad to say there are no fun Santa pictures this year. I had to sneak up behind Santa through the back entrance to even get these pictures. When we had said goodbye to my family and Santa and I was getting Mckenna buckled in her car seat, Santa walked past as he was leaving too and waived goodbye. Mckenna was VERY happy to say goodbye to him at that point.





Oh well, maybe next year.

Welcome to the world...

We welcomed our sweet little Ruby to the world on December 1st, 2011. I went to my 40 week doctor's appointment on Tuesday November 29th and was a day past my due date. I was expecting my doctor to say, "Ok, lets induce you in a week"... instead, he said, "How do you feel about being induced on Thursday morning"? My response: "This Thursday morning?" I realize I had a whole 10 months to prepare for this, but it's still a mystery as to when you're actually going to have the baby... It was scary actually knowing the day and time I'd actually be going in to have her. Needless to say, I didn't sleep a wink the night before. I had nightmares of EVERY possible thing going wrong...especially the epidural. It turned out really well though. We got a call Thursday morning at 5:45 a.m. telling us to come in at 6:30. I thought I would call my mom to have her come stay with Mckenna and she'd still be asleep when we left... of course, that was not how it happened. She woke up when my phone rang and was wide awake the rest of the morning. We went to the hospital, got checked in and settled down. My doctor was inducing 5 other girls the same day. The nurse got me all hooked up to the i.v. with Pitocin by 8:30 and by 9:40 my contractions were so bad I was begging for an epidural. I had asked just in time too... because I guess one of the other girls requested one just after me and they said I would've had to wait another 30-40 minutes to get mine had I not asked when I did. They gave me the epidural at about 9:45. It didn't work like I remember it had last time. The right side of my body was numb, but I could still feel the contractions on my left side for about 20 minutes after that. The anesthesiologist came back and gave me a little bit more medicine in my epidural line and I couldn't feel a thing. At about 10:45 I started feeling a LOT of pressure...even with my epidural. I called the nurse in and told her. She checked me and said, "Oh yeah, you're definitely ready. Do NOT push!" I guess the girl who had requested an epidural the same time I did was having complications with her delivery and the doctor was in trying to deliver her baby who wasn't responding well to the epidural. About 40 minutes later the doctor and the nurses came in to prep me for delivery. I only had to push 3 times before little Ruby arrived at 11:47 a.m. She wasn't crying when she came out, just as calm as could be. The nurse kept trying to get her to cry to make sure her breathing was ok, but she was super calm. She finally let out a little yelp when the nurse poked at her, and then she was fine again. She had just as much red hair as Mckenna did and looked EXACTLY like Mckenna. We love her and are so excited she is here. Her stats are as follows:

Weight 7 lbs. 10 ounces.
Height 19.5 inches.
Arrived at 11:47 a.m. on December 1st.






















We absolutely ADORE her and Mckenna can't get enough of her little sister! She is the perfect fit for our family. We love you Ruby!

We're still alive...

I just looked at the old bloggy-blog, and it has been over a year since I last updated. Wow! We're lame. We've had a busy year with lots of health issues, buying, remodeling, and moving into a new home, finding out we're expecting again...another little girl, etc. I intend to update (hopefully) most of the last year, but for now, that's what we're doing. We've been patiently waiting for the arrival of our little girl... who is technically due tomorrow, but we got our hopes up thinking she'd come early. I'll post pictures when she comes and hopefully get caught up, finally. Until then, sorry for anyone who still tries to read our blog... I'll be a better blogger in the future. I always have good intentions. :)

Montana (July 9-18)

We always love our annual Montana trips. It is so fun to get away for a week or so, and Montana is always so beautiful during the summer (the part that Curtis is from, anyway). This trip was especially fun because it was Mckenna's first visit to her dad's hometown. We spent time with friends and family, ate lots of huckleberry ice cream (a trip to Montana wouldn't be the same without it), went out to eat a lot, went on a beautiful boat ride with some very generous friends, and had a great time all around. On our way home from Montana we made a detour to Sandpoint, Idaho to see Curtis' aunt. We saw a lot of beautiful scenery on the way. There are a lot of pictures that follow - so prepare yourself.


Curtis' friend Fletcher from growing up. This picture reminds me of that line in the movie Sweet Home Alabama: "Look at you, you have a baby...in a bar". Yeah, that picture was taken at the Garden bar in Bigfork where Fletcher works.


Mckenna's first taste of huckleberry ice cream. It was hard to pry her away once she tasted it.






We found this great little place to eat called Somersbay cafe. It will be a place we visit everytime we go from now on - the food was unbelievable!






Aunt Whitney had Mckenna wrapped around her little finger. She LOVED Whitney, but Whitney definitely had to work for it.






Right before we got our motorhome, Curtis' brother bought one just like ours. They're so cute together!
























This trip we decided to venture outside our normal hang out places and try to eat somewhere new. This picture was taken at the WORST restuarant EVER (which I will not name...wouldn't want to hurt anyones feelings). The place was completely empty except for 2 tables. It took them 10 minutes to even come out and seat us. And then we waited for 30 minutes to order our food, and another 45 to get the food we ordered. When we got our food, let's just say it was disgusting. I ordered a crescent with chicken salad. The crescent was hard as a rock and underneath it was stuck to the plate with apricot jam... really weird. Curtis and Whitney had similar food experiences. We will not be visiting there again anytime soon.






To say that Mckenna hated the boat ride would be a major understatement. She screamed pretty much the whole time.